The 20/20 crew in our kitchen. From left to right: Abbey, Sylvia Johnson (20/20 associate producer), Camera Man Jim Kent (Art Gecko Productions — Phoenix), Annette, Joe, Becky, Roy, Steve (just peeking out) and Paul (Sound man)

View the video from ABC's 20/20

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ABC's 20/20
FLAT BROKE —
BEGGING & BORROWING IN AMERICA

January 19, 2007

America's Cheapest Family

In the recording studio — Elizabeth Vargas (back row left) and the Economides clan.

They did a good job investigating the sad story of Matt and Suzie Peterson (you can read it here and view a portion of the show) — and offering them some help to their debt dilemma. The had Robert Pagliarini, the author of The Six-Day Financial Makeover come along side of the Petersons, give them an objective view of their situation and suggest action steps they could take.

Three minutes of video Our part of the show was to illustrate that a family can be raised, take vacations, have fun and eat well without going into debt. We had a camera crew in our home for two days the weekend before Thanksgiving 2006 and then spent five hours taping an interview with Elizabeth Vargas in New York City in early January 2007. The end result of all of this shooting was about three minutes of broadcasted video.

Disappointed Hundreds of 20/20 viewers went to ABC's web site to get more information on "that frugal family." They also wanted to view our segment of the show on ABC's web site, but couldn't find it. They did find the segment on the Petersons and Credit Collection agencies. When they couldn't find information about our family, they started searching ABC's web site and found a 2004 article on us from our appearance on Good Morning America.

Internet Power After the 20/20 show aired, many web sites like News.Yahoo.com and Fark.com posted the old GMA story. Visits to our web site surpassed the surge from 20/20. We started receiving comments that book stores were running out of our books. Even the behemoth, Amazon.com had to put our book on back order. The next week, our book was listed on the New York Times Best Seller list!

America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right On The Money will show you how to live an abundant, fun-filled life without the entanglements of debt. You can read more about the book and order it here.